The New Jazz Thing is LIVE 6-8 PM PT Monday, February 28, 2011 on Jazz 88.3 FM KSDS San Diego Webcast http://Jazz88.org!

Tonight on the show:

Rachel Z and Omar Hakim of Trio of OZ (check out some music clips there)! They will both be joining us via teleconference line to chat about their new release.

Noah Preminger has a new release "Before The Rain" out and we'll be chatting with him about it.

Interact with The New Jazz Thing!!

#TNJT on Twitter (http://Twitter.com/TNJT): If you want to hear something or make a comment about a song or the show, send us a Direct Message on Twitter, ReTweet a show posting (we post each playlist entry during the show), or just post using the #TNJT hashtag and we'll be monitoring it during the show!

Ernest Stuart - Album Preview: Solitary Walker is the product of my
attempt to create music that is a true reflection of myself and my
musical experiences which ranges from gigs with The Roots to The Village
Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. I also wanted to present a jazz album that is
steeped in the tradition of Philadelphia soul. During it’s production, I
set out to capture an honesty that I feel most over-produced jazz
albums now lack. I believe the over-use of technology to erase
“mistakes” can leave an album without character. The album boasts a
slight rawness from the use of acoustic instruments and as few
microphones as possible (the horns share one microphone as well). In
keeping with my vision of honesty, the listener is drawn into the
album’s sound and sophistication unpretentiously.

AllAboutJazz: "The CD title Solitary Walker comes from the book Reveries of the Solitary Walker
written by French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Stuart discovered
the book during a somewhat tumultuous time while living in New York
City. The book's theme resonated deeply with him, though his “exile" was
totally self imposed. He learned a lot about himself during this
relatively short period, but also about the nature of ordinary people,
music and musicians."

Anthony Smith Bio: "...also the Common Ground Theatre’s world premiere of “Jazz Queens Cast Blue
Shadows,” for which Anthony wrote the original score to accompany the
standards of Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington. The music from “Jazz
Queens” was then recorded in the studio by Anthony and his four-piece
band, for a forthcoming Bluport Records release (early 2011)."

ROBERTA
PIKET – “SIDES, COLORS” (Mostly progressive outing, with a variety of
band configurations, doing mostly originals, with a couple of
standards).

Reviews and Quotes:

AllAboutJazz.com (Wilbert Sostre): "she demonstrates her different musical sides and colors. Piket shows her classical, lyrical side on "Billy's Ballad" and Bill Evans "Laurie," while the classical feel is accentuated by the addition of clarinet, flute and strings—a concept similar to Esperanza Spalding's Chamber Music Society (Heads Up, 2010)."

AllAboutJazz.com (Dan McClenaghan): "Side, Colors
features a mix of styles, but is sequenced perfectly. "Side A" is
mostly with strings; "Side B," a freer, mostly piano trio affair. Piket
takes some chances here, and it pays off nicely."

Huffington Post (Joseph Vella): "What makes his solo outings and the Live at Marciac recording
so exciting is the repertoire that he incorporates into his
performances. His blend of jazz and classical styles, the American
Songbook, unique covers of pop tunes and originals all seamlessly blend
into a fulfilling and varied musical experience. His breathtaking
command of his instrument is undeniable. But what he is able to say
musically as a soloist within the context of each song combined with his
improvisations is simply masterful. "

CDBaby: "Beautiful As The Moon is a
very personal statement from the band--all of the music comes from the
band members or is inspired by their families and their influences." "With all but one song
recorded at the Saville Theater, San Diego City College for a live
concert on KSDS Jazz88 radio in San Diego, this is an excellent
opportunity to experience some great Latin Jazz live without any edits
or tricks so common on many studio produced sessions where the music is
recorded overdub by overdub. Not here, this is the real deal--seasoned
Jazz and Latin Jazz musicians running risks to create great art,
passionate rhythms and beautiful melodies resulting in music that is as
beautiful as the moon."

FRED HERSCH – “ALONE AT THE VANGUARD” (Solo live piano recording, with a mix of originals, jazz tunes and standards).

Reviews and Quotes:

AllAboutJazz (Dan McClenaghan): "Hersch
has what it takes to ignore the "never open with a ballad" advice: a
supple and exquisitely-refined touch; a sharp focus on the melody; a
deep sense of classical harmony; and a magical ability to get inside the
tune and make it his own. Hersch's sound here has a uncommon
fragility/strength dynamic, and it is serious and cerebral, with an
opposing simplicity buoyed by a rich complexity, born of a lifetime's
immersion in the music."

Mandolin New Music: "In Other Words is the debut release from Duo LaRé, Chris
Acquavella on mandolin and Nate Jarrell on guitar. The duo performs
contemporary music influenced by jazz, contemporary classical and
eastern European folk traditions with about half of the tracks being
original compositions."

AllAboutJazz.com (Victor Schermer): "Jazz
guitarists will find Butrey's rich improvisational capabilities of
great interest. He likes to play with possibilities and demonstrates
rich motivic and chordal development. There is an ingenuity repeatedly
occurring as he and his cohorts try on new "skins" in chameleon-like
adaptations. After several listens, the head spins from exposure to the
myriad musical changes that, in turn, evoke changes in the psyche. In
that sense, the music is transformational, provoking changes in the
sense of self much like a psychedelic drug."

The band for Rebecca Coupe Franks appearance at Jazz Live San Diego, Tuesday, March 8, 2011 8-10 PM PT from the Seville Theatre at San Diego City College (and broadcast LIVE at Jazz 88.3 FM San Diego and on the web at http://Jazz88.org) has just been announced....

NEW THIS WEEK FOR 2/17/11 - Finally adding the Mingus Big Band 2010 Grammy Winner for Best Large Ensemble Jazz Album...hoo ray! New Charlie Haden music and new music from Art Hillery, the pianist for our last Jazz Live with Red Holloway and Plas Johnson.

I'm blogging the show live and you can listen at http://Jazz88.org or 88.3 FM in San Diego....

9:23 Tune 11 <a blues shouter> They didn't say this was the end, but it sure looks like it based on the time...heading downstairs....

Looks like this will be the tune before the last one...then it's down for the close and onto the rest of the show...

9:14 Tune 10 "Theme from Pink Panther" Plas Johnson plays on the tune that made him famous...you knew he recorded the famous saxophone solo on this tune, right?!

9:07 Tune 9 "Delilah" featuring pianist Art Hillary. Richard Reid is really growly playing the bass...his microphone pickup on the bass really picks him up...sounds great! Everyone's taking a turn on this one...Garryck King on drums just did a nice thing with mallets...I think.

9:01 Tune 8 "Drink Muddy Water" with Red taking the lead on vocals and letting the theatre audience get a few responses in to his calls. The band swings.

8:58 Station ID Break and Q&A: We heard stories about Red and Plas' time in the Army. Red as a bandleader, after doing a stint in the motor pool and 'red lining' his pay...I guess that means he didn't take his pay for some reason. Plas was happy to be done with his time!

Time for me to figure out what we are going to banter and babble about at the 9PM station ID break.

8:47 Tune 7 "Caravan" Red sings the lyric to remember the name of the tune...featuring Garryck King on the buckets.

8:38 Tune 6 "Talk of the Town" Nice ballad choice. Again, Plas calling the tunes as he sees them from the stage. And his buddy Red is hanging right there with the band on stage...bet he wishes he was playing side by side with Plas (they talked about this in the pre-recorded interview).

8:31 Tune 5 "I Feel Good" A little James Brown being pulled out of the hat by Plas. The crowd is loving it!

8:01 Tune 1 "Lucky So and So" We didn't quite hit the 8:00 mark with the first tune, so I wonder what the 'toss' sounded like...the end of Tune 0 and then we went right into the show...LIVE radio with Jazz Legends at it's most unpredictable!

7: 56 Tune 0 "My Shining Hour" Supposed to be for the theatre only, as a last mix check for broadcast...but they didn't quite finish before the 8:00 toss from the studio, so I'm sure the radio audience heard the end of it, with my "LIVE from the Seville Theatre..." opener.

Some pre-show stuff...

Plas, Richard, and Garryk at the soundcheck...
Me with Red and Plas after the Jazz Live San Diego interview...

PopMatters: " The album lacks for nothing as far as musical talent, with Hakim’s deft
handiwork on drums, Rachel Z’s rollercoaster waves of piano movements,
and Royce’s rumbling bass lines. They even manage to add flavor to some
of the original compositions with flourishing solos and tempo changes,
as in the Trio’s revisit of “Angry Chair” by Alice in Chains. " "The downside is that the Trio doesn’t always mesh as a single unit. At
times, their collaboration seems more like three soloists playing at
once, each one elbowing the other for coveted space."

Sea of Tranquility (John Neudorf): "The trio produces a full rich sound that will have all jazz fans
reaching for their wallets. This may in fact be my favourite jazz CD
this year and when you look at the players it is not hard to see why." "What makes this album a little different is the choice of songs the trio
chose to tackle. Instead of the usual standards of the past, they have
mostly reworked recent rock and pop compositions, making this a
completely refreshing and rewarding listen. Although I encourage
rock/pop fans to give this a listen, this is still a jazz recording
through and through, albeit a very good one."

AllAboutJazz.com (Jeff Winbush): "The eclectic and restless musical tastes of drummer Omar Hakim and pianist Rachel Nicolazzo (aka Rachel Z) offer some mighty impressive bait to reel them in, The Trio of Oz's repertoire reading like an hour's worth of college radio station programming." "...rendering
their creation of new ways to splice the seemingly contradictory jazz
and rock idioms together into some sort of mutant hybrid—capturing the
fun of the latter without compromising the integrity of the
former—completely understandable."

Some great new added by Joe, including the Marcus Shelby, Lisa Hilton...will be interesting to hear the Marcus Miller and Omar Hakim/Rachel Z things. You can hear a lot of this for the first time on radio weekly on The New Jazz Thing (http://TNJT.com), 6-8 PM PT Thursdays on Jazz 88.3 FM and http://Jazz88.org